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Quote by Cyril Connolly

“The man who is master of his passions is Reason's slave.”

Quote by Cyril Connolly

Author

Cyril Connolly was a prominent British literary critic and writer, known for his profound insights into modern literature and culture. His works include literary criticism, novels, and essays, with his most famous works being 'The Enemies' and 'The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft'. Connolly's writing style was unique, characterized by satire and wit. more

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“We may assume that we keep people waiting symbolically because we do not wish to see them and that our anxiety is due not to being late, but to having to see them at all.”

People May Wish Waiting Anxiety Late Assuming Dues Punctual

Author:Cyril Connolly

“I've been writing about James Fenimore Cooper. He was not a writer. Here was a man who was 30 years old and had never put anything more than his signature on paper.”

Men Writing Years Paper Signatures

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“There is no suicide for which all society is not responsible.”

Responsible Suicide

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“When even despair ceases to serve any creative purpose, then surely we are justified in suicide.”

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“No one can achieve Serenity until the glare of passion is past the meridian.”

Past Passion Achieve Serenity Tranquility Glare

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“The disasters of the world are due to its inhabitants not being able to grow old simultaneously. There is always a raw and intolerant nation eager to destroy the tolerant and mellow.”

World War Able Nations Grows Dues Disaster Mellow

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“The only happy talkers are dandies who extract pleasure from the very perishability of their material and who would not be able to tolerate the isolation of all other forms of composition; for most good talkers, when they have run down, are miserable; they know that they have betrayed themselves, that they have taken material which should have a life of its own, to dispense it in noises upon the air.”

Knows Should Running Able Form Pleasure Taken Air Materials Conversation Should Have Noise Miserable Isolation Tolerate Composition Betrayed Talkers

Book:Enemies of Promise

Source: Enemies of Promise

“The goal of every culture is to decay through over-civilization; the factors of decadence, -- luxury, skepticism, weariness and superstition, -- are constant. The civilization of one epoch becomes the manure of the next.”

Culture Next Goal Civilization Constant Corruption Factors Luxury Superstitions Decay Skepticism Weariness Decadence Epoch Manure

Author:Cyril Connolly

“Were I to deduce any system from my feelings on leaving Eton, it might be called The Theory of Permanent Adolescence. It is the theory that the experiences undergone by boys at the great public schools, their glories and disappointments, are so intense as to dominate their lives and to arrest their development. From these it results that the greater part of the ruling class remains adolescent, school-minded, self-conscious, cowardly, sentimental, and in the last analysis homosexual.”

Source: Enemies of promise and other essays: an autobiography of ideas

“Nothing dates like hate and in literature a little of it goes a very long way.”

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Book:The evening colonnade

Source: The evening colonnade